Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Alice in Wonderland syndrome

-------------------------brief introduction

Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS, named after the novel written by Lewis Carroll), also known as Todd's syndrome, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human perception. Sufferers may experience micropsia, macropsia, and/or size distortion of other sensory modalities. A temporary condition, it is often associated with migraines, brain tumors, and the use of psychoactive drugs.It can also present as the initial sign of the Epstein-Barr Virus . Anecdotal reports suggests that the symptoms of AIWS are fairly common in childhood, with many people growing out of them in their teens. It appears that AIWS is also a common experience at sleep onset.

The AIWS is a result of change in perception as opposed to the eyes themselves malfunctioning. The hallmark sign of AIWS is a migraine, and may in part be caused by the symptom itself. AIWS affects the sufferer's sense of visual, sensation, touch, hearing as well as one's own body image.

The most prominent and often most disturbing symptom is that of altered body image: the sufferer will find that they are confused as to the size and shape of parts of (or all of) their body.

The eyes themselves are normal, but the sufferer 'sees' objects with the wrong size or shape and/or finds that perspective is incorrect. This can mean that people, cars, buildings, etc. look smaller or larger than they should be, or that distances look incorrect; for example a corridor may appear to be very long, or the ground may appear too close.

In addition, some people may experience more intense and overt hallucinations, seeing things that are not there and misinterpreting events and situations in conjunction with a high fever.